86 R80 valve clearance

[roncooper]

No luck with the search function, so here is my question. 86 R80-what is the gap being recommended now? The Haynes and Clymer state .004I and .008E. I remember that was considered too close on the intake when I had boxers years ago.

Helping a friend with a "garage find" 86 R80.

 

[20774]

I use 0.006 on intake...can't really do any harm and just gives a bit more time for heat to transfer. More important is the exhaust number which looks good.

 

[galaxie]

valves

is it the same for 86 r80 rt

 

[mneblett]

Yes -- all /5-on airheads. I also use .006I, .008E

 

[ISAMEMON]

well of course your adjusting cold
and go-no go feelers are a big help

 

[mbellantone]

what's a "go-no go" feeler? link please?

 

[ISAMEMON]

links I dont know but if you go into almsot any auto parts store they will know what i am talking about, if not , wrong store and min wage counter monkey.
they are a little more money than a standard set of feelers but ehy are machined to different specs. for example
on one part they will say .004 and then further up on the same slim piece of metal will be a step where it jumps to say .oo6 it will be clearly marked
super handy
use em all the time

I had to buy a full set, but I removed the ones needed for the airheads so now its just a two piece "set" the rest I keep in my tool box for ????? grins

are they worth the money............hard to say
for me they are

money....jsut pretend a regular set is 5 bucks, these will cost you ten
of course it might be 10 and 20....been a while
but the ones I bought had all kinds of sizes cause I work on all kinds of stuff
for the valves, just standard steel will do, but they are/were availble in brass at oen time, you wont need em in brass
u can even get them on flea bay

 

[lmo1131]

or...

just use the gauge "above" as the no-go; if .006" is the setting needed, the .007" gauge should not be able to be inserted.

I eventually abandoned that when I became accustomed to the amount of "drag" on the gauge at the correct settings.

no go gauge

 

[bikerfish1100]

or...

just use the gauge "above" as the no-go; if .006" is the setting needed, the .007" gauge should not be able to be inserted.

I eventually abandoned that when I became accustomed to the amount of "drag" on the gauge at the correct settings.

yup. and i'm still using the same set i have from 1970something. good mileage outta those babies.

 

[20774]

Has anyone ever set the valves without a feeler gage? Someone on the Boxerworks forum (he's no longer posting there), said that it would be "best" to set the clearance by using the pitch spacing on the threads...what is it, 1mm threads? I believe the approach was to snug up the clearance then rotate the intake back 0.15/1 of a turn and the exhaust 0.20/1 of a turn. That might even equate to 1 flat on the nut...or in the ballpark. I think the thinking was that a feeler gage forces the two mating surfaces to ride up on the peaks (if any) whereas snugging the two mating surfaces together causes them to start from a "true zero".

Hmmmm...

 

[ISAMEMON]

Has anyone ever set the valves without a feeler gage? Someone on the Boxerworks forum (he's no longer posting there), said that it would be "best" to set the clearance by using the pitch spacing on the threads...what is it, 1mm threads? I believe the approach was to snug up the clearance then rotate the intake back 0.15/1 of a turn and the exhaust 0.20/1 of a turn. That might even equate to 1 flat on the nut...or in the ballpark. I think the thinking was that a feeler gage forces the two mating surfaces to ride up on the peaks (if any) whereas snugging the two mating surfaces together causes them to start from a "true zero".

Hmmmm...

sounds bogus to me

 

[bikerfish1100]

i would not bother. precision is not quite there, imo. "ball park" is not adequate on this adjustment.

 

[dwyandell]

the 'drag' method is probably as accurate as you can get, and it isnt hard to learn. Valves are not the place for shortcuts or gimmicks, I think.

 

[PGlaves]

On Airheads I always use the twist the pushrod method. That is, with the specified feeler guage I could still twist the pushrod with one finger and thumb with light resistance and with the next larger feeler guage inserted could no readily twist the push rod. I found this much easier to tell when it was right than how much drag I was feeling on the feeler gauge.

 

[bmwwrench]

When I was a fledgling mechanic, working on Conestoga Wagons, I wasn't confident about my feel with feeler gauges. I realised that if I put a feeler gauge in a micrometer set to that size, it would tell me what it should feel like.